An online synchronized content management system, such as DROPBOX from Dropbox Inc. of San Francisco, Calif., allows users to store their content items in an online user account that can be accessed from any computing device. Users can upload content items from one computing device to their online user account and access the uploaded content items from other computing devices. Users can also share uploaded content items with other users, to provide other users access to the shared content items from their respective devices.
Users can access the content items from a browser application installed on the user's client device. For example, a user can use a web browser to access the content items from a website of the content management system. Users can also access the content items from a client-side application installed on the user's client device. Often, users may have both a web browser application and a client-side application installed on the user's client device, which they can use, either together or alone, to access content items on the content management system. The ability to use both types of applications to access content on the content management system can confer various benefits to the user. For example, the client-side application can offer persistent and seamless synchronization of local data with the content management system, while the web browser application may offer a different, web-based experience to the user.
To provide a richer experience to the user, it would be advantageous to enable seamless and transparent interactions between the content management system and the various types of applications and components at the client device. This can enable a unified experience to the user, with better integration between the various components of the online content management system and client device.